Reading Maureen O'Hara's autobiography, one gets the impression the actor was very much as she appeared on screen: beautiful, imperious, cool - but with a flashing temper that often resulted to violence on her behalf, very Irish... but for all that not terribly shrewd and susceptible to being conned.
She was raised in a very strict, loving religious environment that prepared her well for dreams, hard work and acting, but little for matters of the heart. How else to explain how she was suckered into two marriages - one a person she barely knew just before leaving overseas (it wasn't consummated), the other to a man she didn't love.
In both cases the men simply persisted. I wasn't inclined to believe this at first but then reconsidered - I knew an Irish girl once very like her, a strict upbringing and imperious nature that fended off suitors... but if people were persistent and confident she did what they told her to do. Thing is, the people who were persistent enough were usually pricks - as in O'Hara's case.
O'Hara isn't a likeable character at times - she often has a stick up her backside, gets on her high horse, and seems to find conspiracy theories under every bush (someone wanted to kidnap her when she returned to Ireland, she blames John Ford for robbing her of an Oscar nomination for the Quiet Man and for missing out on a role in Friendly Persuasion, claims her third husband was assassinated, says the camera man of the Battle of the Villa Filora deliberately filmed her unflatteringly because she made a crack about the English soccer team, says there was a conspiracy in Hollywood to deny her an Oscar around the time of Only the Lonely). She attacks what she claims have been inaccurate stories about John Ford and the making of The Quiet Man.
In both cases the men simply persisted. I wasn't inclined to believe this at first but then reconsidered - I knew an Irish girl once very like her, a strict upbringing and imperious nature that fended off suitors... but if people were persistent and confident she did what they told her to do. Thing is, the people who were persistent enough were usually pricks - as in O'Hara's case.
O'Hara isn't a likeable character at times - she often has a stick up her backside, gets on her high horse, and seems to find conspiracy theories under every bush (someone wanted to kidnap her when she returned to Ireland, she blames John Ford for robbing her of an Oscar nomination for the Quiet Man and for missing out on a role in Friendly Persuasion, claims her third husband was assassinated, says the camera man of the Battle of the Villa Filora deliberately filmed her unflatteringly because she made a crack about the English soccer team, says there was a conspiracy in Hollywood to deny her an Oscar around the time of Only the Lonely). She attacks what she claims have been inaccurate stories about John Ford and the making of The Quiet Man.
Ford fans will find the book especially interesting (or distressing): O'Hara says the director was an erratic bully (which sounds believable) who was capable of kindness and charm (also believable) who grew progressively more cruel (still buy it), who hit her once in the face (yeah I buy that), who wrote her weird love letters (she quotes them and it makes sense esp as one realises Ford probably fell in love with O'Hara as her Quiet Man character around this time)... and that he drew pictures of penises and she caught him kissing a famous Hollywood leading man (Tyrone Power? Rock Hudson? Jeffrey Hunter?). Was John Ford a closet gay? You know, it would explain a lot.
She was groped by Errol Flynn (but later was charmed by him when they made a film together), John Farrow and George Montgomery. John Payne, John Wayne and Natalie Wood were sweeties; so was Jeff Chandler though apparently acting with him was like "acting with a broomstick".
Australian readers will be interested on the account of O'Hara making Kangaroo here. She says she loved the original script but Lewis Milestone rewrote it. She also says Peter Lawford and Richard Boone were busted by the press in a brothel but O'Hara smooth talked them out of running the story. She says she liked Australians but didn't like the filming experience here.
I never thought of Maureen O'Hara's career having turning points and ups and downs - it all seemed like one long Technicolour wash. But this shows that she did - signed by Charles Laughton who got her career off to a one-two punch with Jamaica Inn and Hunchback of Notre Dame. She was a star, but stumbled in Bill of Divorcement (O'Hara complains she didn't receive roles worthy of her due - she was a competent, spirited actor, a genuine star, but I don't think the world missed out by not seeing her as Medea; she played indignant ladies too often). Dance Girl Dance is now beloved by feminist film fans but at the time was something of a squib. However she went into How Green Was My Valley which prompted a long association with John Ford.
She was groped by Errol Flynn (but later was charmed by him when they made a film together), John Farrow and George Montgomery. John Payne, John Wayne and Natalie Wood were sweeties; so was Jeff Chandler though apparently acting with him was like "acting with a broomstick".
Australian readers will be interested on the account of O'Hara making Kangaroo here. She says she loved the original script but Lewis Milestone rewrote it. She also says Peter Lawford and Richard Boone were busted by the press in a brothel but O'Hara smooth talked them out of running the story. She says she liked Australians but didn't like the filming experience here.
I never thought of Maureen O'Hara's career having turning points and ups and downs - it all seemed like one long Technicolour wash. But this shows that she did - signed by Charles Laughton who got her career off to a one-two punch with Jamaica Inn and Hunchback of Notre Dame. She was a star, but stumbled in Bill of Divorcement (O'Hara complains she didn't receive roles worthy of her due - she was a competent, spirited actor, a genuine star, but I don't think the world missed out by not seeing her as Medea; she played indignant ladies too often). Dance Girl Dance is now beloved by feminist film fans but at the time was something of a squib. However she went into How Green Was My Valley which prompted a long association with John Ford.
In the 1940s she specialised in beautiful heroines, especially effective in Technicolor. She changed her image slightly with At Swords Point - it was a swashbuckler, she'd made them before, but here she was an active fighter, she participated in the action. She thus prolonged her career playing a series of spitfires: Against All Flags, The Quiet Man. She also revived her career with a comic turn in The Parent Trap. This kept her going through the 60s but she thrived in film retirement living in the Virgin Islands. Grand read from a screen legend and apparent nutter.
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